ABSTRACT
This study was conducted to determine the exposure rate of Hepatitis A and Hepatitis E viruses in urban solid waste collectors/sweepers in the south of Iran. The 385 samples (serums) were collected from Shiraz Municipality waste sweepers.. A questionnaire was used to gather data on their demographic and occupational characteristics, as well as their awareness of viral hepatitis disease. The viral seroprevalence was determined by commercial IgG ELISA kit. All participants were male, mean age of 41 ± 8 years. ELISA assay showed that all of them were positive for anti-HAV IgG. Also, 62 out of 385 individuals were positive for anti-HEV IgG. The statistical analysis showed that the frequency of HEV IgG antibody among age groups 20-30, 31-40, 41-50 and >50 years old had an increasing trend, 4.5%, 10.1%, 17.4%, and 36.7%, respectively, indicating age factor significance (p = .001). Based on some investigated factors including the duration of work experience, current and previous jobs, habitation, personal hygiene status, and knowledge on viral hepatitis diseasees/their transmission, there was no statistically significant difference between anti-HEV IgG positive versus negative sweepers. The results indicated a slighty higher frequency of anti-HAV and anti-HEV IgG among sweepers compared to other pre-investigated population. It doesn't seem that garbage collecting/sweeping could be a significant risk factor for HAV and HEV infection.
Subject(s)
Hepatitis A virus , Hepatitis A , Hepatitis E virus , Hepatitis E , Adult , Cross-Sectional Studies , Female , Hepatitis A/epidemiology , Hepatitis A Antibodies , Hepatitis E/epidemiology , Humans , Immunoglobulin G , Immunoglobulin M , Iran/epidemiology , Male , Middle Aged , Prevalence , Seroepidemiologic StudiesABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Genetic variation in immune regulatory genes might influence the HBV infection outcome. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to determine the association of IL-17A rs2275913 (G197A), IL-17F rs763780 (A7488G), and IL-23R rs10889677 (C2370A) gene polymorphisms, as well as the emerged haplotypes in the individual infected by HBV and to investigate their association with the infection outcome. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 300 chronic HBV infections with Cirrhotic/Hepatocellular carcinoma(C/HCC), chronic active (CA), and asymptomatic carrier (AC) and 38 individuals whose infection was spontaneously cleared (SC) were enrolled. Genomic DNA was extracted, and IL-17A/F and IL-23R genotyping were performed by using the PCR-RFLP method. RESULTS: Out of 338 subjects, 238 and 100 were respectively male and /female with a mean age of 47.61±13.41. The frequency of GA genotype (p=0.01) and A alleles (p=0.001) of IL-17A rs2275913 (G197A), as well as the frequency of AA genotype (p=0.014) and A alleles (p=0.018) of IL-17F rs763780 (A7488G) gene locus, was found to be significantly higher in the C/HCC than CA and AC groups. Furthermore, the frequency of GA and AG haplotype in CA individuals was higher than those with C/HCC and AC (p=0.003). Also, the GG haplotype was higher in AC individuals than those with C/HCC (P=0.022), and the AA haplotype was higher in C/HCC individuals than the CA patients (P=0.001). CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that A allele and GA genotype at IL-17A rs2275913 (G197A), as well as A allele and AA genotype at IL-17F rs763780 (A7488G) locus, might be associated with increased risk of C/HCC among patients with hepatitis B virus infection.
